One Barbie Car Quilt Snowballed

Online shopping combined with Black Friday or after-BF sales is just too convenient. Don’t you think? Five 10″ packs were ordered from Missouri Star here, and four 10″ packs were ordered from Green Fairy Quilts. Before you know it things are getting a little crazy and out of hand with the stack of layer cakes. Four of those layer cakes have been pegged for new car quilts for our littles. One of these packs is inspired by a fan favorite named Barbie.

Everyone Needs a Car Quilt

It seems that babies can no longer wear anything warm when sitting in a car seat. No coat, no snowsuit, nothing. It has something to do with the harness not being tight enough should there be an accident. Alright. Well, then it is way past time that each one of our littles should have a car quilt. Heck. We need one, too, in each of our cars.

Sue got on board with great enthusiasm and started matching up two coordinating fabrics immediately. We want to use our Vicent’s Garden pattern (free) because it showcases the prints so nicely. Two simple cuts with the rotary cutter, after a detour for a new blade, and I was ready to sew. Forty-two blocks is a nice layout of 6 x 7, or so we thought. After getting all 42 Barbie blocks nearly together, we realized that the size would be too big. At 57″ x 66.5″, that is fairly large for a car quilt. Half the blocks at 38″ x 47.5″ seem to be a better size to tuck inside a car seat over the buckles.

Addison’s Car Quilt #1

Addison has a newly acquired love for Barbie. She is always carrying around a baby doll or three, fussing with their pacifier, feeding them, and rocking them. Barbie is different though. She has cool outfits and accessories. This is a retro pack of Barbie fabrics – think 1960s for sure. But Barbie is timeless! The ponytail and sunglasses still work. She’s the original one-name wonder, well before Cher, Madonna, and Beyonce. Who even knows Barbie’s last name or Ken’s for that matter? You gave her yours if you wanted or you called her B for short.

Here’s a little Barbie history for you. Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. Barbie was named after the inventor’s daughter, Barbara, and was introduced in 1959. Ken was also named after her son, Kenneth. Ken’s full name is Kenneth Sean Carson and was introduced in 1961. They are both from Willows, Wisconsin, where she attended high school. Willows is a fictional town/village/city – we don’t know its population. Barbie also had a younger sister named Skipper Madison Roberts. Skipper debuted in 1964 and was she was 10 years old. Finally, Margaret “Midge” Hadley Sherwood was launched as Barbie’s BFF in 1963. I had no idea Sue and I were both born in the Barbie heydays.

Best Laid Barbie Plans

Yeah. Following a pattern that I created should be a simple and easy process. Mindless, you might say. Two quick cuts to the fabric pieces, swap the pieces around, sew, and boom. You’re done. Yes, that is true. Except these fabric pieces are directional. You cannot just turn them willy-nilly. One must purposely sew each piece in the correct direction to match the pattern. Yeah. That didn’t happen. All 42 blocks were happily and quickly sewn together in a few short hours.

Several (three!!) layouts were tried for the first quilt. Sue, Gamma, and I spent a good portion of an evening working out the best one. You would think our lives depended on getting the colors and patterns separated as much as we could. Layout #3 is the winner. I sewed it together and that’s when I noticed that I had sewed most of the blocks incorrectly. What? The? Heck? Jack the ripper came out on two blocks and then I realized that was a complete waste of time. Note to self – think about the direction of the fabric and how the blocks should be sewn together BEFORE you’ve sewn all of them. Yup. Next time.

Two Barbie Car Quilts

Around that same time, it became crystal clear that two car quilts could be made from Barbie fabrics. That’s perfect as Gamma really wants one for her car, too. That meant another layout session and this time it was totally up to Gamma and Addison.

Once the girls were finished working on their perfect layout, I picked them up by each row. Sewing, again, was a breeze. Two Barbie quilt tops were now awaiting their backing to arrive. A nice warm fleece was chosen to match the colors and sentiment these quilts will hold.

Hearts and Barbie

Once the fleece finally arrived, we reaffirmed our choice. Hearts and Barbie in similar colors is a pairing match made in heaven. However, quilting math got us again. Somehow 38″ + 38″ = 56″. Umm. No, that is not correct by a mere 20″. Not only did we have to wait forever for the backing to arrive, but then we hadn’t ordered enough. Good grief.

They are cute backings, though, aren’t they? Gray hearts for Addison, Dinos for Chase, I Woof You for Colt, and Construction trucks for Dominic. Gamma didn’t get the gray hearts like Addi but instead has a black Buffalo plaid. They are all so soft, and even more so after washing and drying.

We got that gray with multicolored hearts fleece layered in no time. As you can see, I went with heart shapes and loops for the quilting motif on ALL of the car quilts. That simple and quick quilting design helped with the speed at which all five car quilts were completed!

Beyond Barbie to the Hot Wheels, the Farm, and Thomas the Train

While these car quilts started out as Drop Everything and Make It (DrEAMi) projects, that was not meant to be. Shipping delays foiled the best of plans, but that’s okay. Sue and I had fun laying out the Hot Wheels blocks by ourselves, with just a few minor adjustments.

I actually managed to follow the pattern and keep the directional fabrics in order. Next, we went out to the farm for some sweet animal fun for Colt.

The piggy and cow peeking over the edges of the fabrics are just too darn cute! The layout came together without much ado, which left time for the final car quilt. Thomas the Train for Chase has lots of blue in it!

Five Car Quilts . . . Just Like That!

All that’s left are the reveals! First is Addison with her Barbie car quilt #1. Colt was dying to step on Addison’s quilt, so those are his yellow Batman-clad feet.

Up next is Dominic and his Hot Wheels car quilt. He didn’t really want to pose for a picture – what’s up with that?!! I got one anyway.

Colt got away from us with his car quilt sans photos, darn it. The layout is shared above – I didn’t make any swaps while sewing it for a change. Chase was too busy eating to pose with his Thomas the Train quilt. We had chips, you know.

Gamma was under the weather for the distribution of the car quilts. Addison got to pick which quilt was for her and which was for Gamma. I think she made a wise decision! Gamma will get her Barbie car quilt later this week.

Now to figure out what to do with those other layer cakes . . . ~smile~

♥ ♥ ♥

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